Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: End of Darkness
by Screamo Shaymin
Summary: Damien's trainer is missing... He's on an island he's never seen before... He's pulled into a rescue team... What's next?
1. Chapter 1

**I decided to revive my FanFiction account and re-upload this story. However, I fixed some continuity errors within it, as well as gave it a more believable canon. Some of the ideas in this story were based on the trading card game, including Delta Species and Dark Pokemon. I hope it's worth it.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own **_**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon**_** or any other Nintendo or ChunSoft game.**

**Warning: There are character deaths in a couple of areas. Other than that, this story is mostly squick-free. Enjoy!**

"I think I heard the crash somewhere over here..."

"Why does it matter? We need to leave it alone, or—"

"Look, there it is! Oh, crap... that looks scary! Wait... there's a Riolu over there!"

"Is he awake?"

"...No, he's not. I hope he's not hurt..."

"He's probably dead then. No one could survive that wreck. Let's go, Jess..."

Damien the Riolu could hear voices. The first was a young female, probably not much older than him. The other was a much older teenage male voice.

"Hey, kid, wake up! You alright?"

"Jess, let's go. You don't need to mess with him."

Damien slowly opened his eyes to find a Zorua looking at him. She was wearing a black cloak. Behind her was a Pikachu. The Zorua smiled when Damien opened his eyes.

"Told you, Mike!"

"Yeah, but he's still a stranger, Jess. We probably shouldn't—"

"What's your name?" Jess interrupted, speaking to Damien.

He stood up and observed his surroundings. He was in some sort of clearing in the middle of a forest. He was encircled by trees of every kind. But he couldn't find his trainer Dyllan anywhere. Damien remembered that he was in a small plane, flying out to the nearest region they could find so that Dyllan could start an occupation as a trainer. But then, he heard a loud explosion, and felt the plane going down. Damien passed out because the plane was going so fast.

Damien couldn't see the plane either. Then something came to his realization... he could smell the scent of fuel. He turned around, and his heart sank.

The plane was there. It was completely obliterated, pieces of it everywhere. The propellers were nonexistent. The engine was just a few feet away from where Damien stood. There was a hole in the back that came from what hit them as they were flying.

"What's wrong?" Jess asked, though Damien ignored her. He ran and started to climb the wrecked aircraft. He got up to the cockpit, hoping he would find Dyllan somewhere.

There was nothing.

Tears started to well up in his eyes. This was the person who had been with him all his life, who took care of him when he was young. And now he was gone. He saw a scarf hanging on the broken wing. It was a long, yellow, woven scarf, with the monogram "D.B." on the far bottom corner. He thought for a moment and climbed the wing, grabbed the scarf and wrapped it around his neck. He was going to keep it as a memento, a memory of his best friend. He climbed back down from the plane and stood there, staring at it. Then, all of a sudden, there was a cry.

"Someone! He needs help!"

Everyone turned to see a Froslass floating through the woods asking for help.

"What? Who needs help?" Jess asked.

The Froslass stopped. "My baby! He's trapped in the Cave of Shadows! He won't be able to get out on his own!"

"Calm down, miss, someone will—" Mike tried to say before he was interrupted.

"How can I be calm?!" she shouted. "He's trapped in a cave with all kinds of horrible Pokemon! There's no telling if he'll ever get out alive!"

Jess started to think. She looked at Damien, then at Mike, then at the Froslass. Then she interjected, "We'll get your Snorunt out of that cave, miss!"

"Jess, no. We are not doing something that dangerous. Investigating this crash was enough, and I won't—" Mike started.

"I lost my parents, Mike! I won't let her lose her child. I don't want anyone to feel like I did when I found them."

Damien couldn't understand what was going on, but he felt the same way. He just lost his trainer, and he was absolutely devastated. He thought for a moment about what he would do. Then he said, "I'll go help him."

"What, you too? Am I the only one here who thinks this is a bad idea?" Mike exclaimed. "Well, if you're going, Jess, I'll go too to keep you safe. Besides, I don't think I like this Riolu too much."

"You don't know him."

"Neither do you."

"Guys," the Froslass interrupted. "My son's still in the cave."

"Right, miss. Come on, guys! We gotta go!"

Then Jess ran towards the forest. Mike called after her and followed. Damien was ready to follow suit when the Froslass stopped him.

"Thank you. I'll be waiting here when—I mean, _if_ you return…"

Damien looked at her. "We'll be back. You don't have to worry."

Pretty soon, the three of them found themselves in front of a massive cave, guarded only by a sign: "Enter at your own risk."

"_This_ is the Cave of Shadows? I've never been here before...it's really big…" Jess said nervously.

"It's not too late to turn back," Mike said.

"It's fine. We just go in, get the kid, and come back out. No big deal, right?"

"Nothing is ever as easy as it seems, Jess. This cave is probably teeming with Dark Pokemon, and there's no telling what could happen.

"Let's just go! If we don't find Snorunt, he could possibly die. You know how this cave is."

And with that she entered the cave. Mike and Damien followed. It was a large cave, and it was very dark. The walls were eerily lined with scratches and hints of blood. Once a little further in, it started to get dark. Jess stopped.

"Uh… did anyone bring a torch?" she said, a little embarrassed. Mike frowned.

"You didn't even think about that?"

"…Sorry, Mike," Jess apologized, a little downhearted.

Damien decided he would help. He focused his energy into a ball of aura, which he held up in front of him. The Aura Sphere let off plenty of light to see by. Jess noticed, a little stunned, and said, "Maybe we should let him lead the way."

They started to move on. At every turn, either Jess or Mike would decide which way to go. "Turn here." "Go left." "Stay away from that." "I think it's safe to go here."

Eventually they found a large space deep within the cave. The whole area was limned with bones of every sort, some of them with blood still on them. Mike took a survey of the area illuminated by Damien's aura. He turned to them and made a motion that both of the others understood as "be quiet." He led their way through to the center and stopped, signaling to Damien, which he did not understand. Mike was moving his arms in a motion that seemed to mean "make it bigger." Still, Damien did not comprehend. The puzzled look on his face made Mike put his face in his paw.

"Make it bigger!" he finally whispered. Damien listened and increased the size of the Sphere. He found it strange that there were no Zubats or Swoobats in here. He tried to think on it, but the cave's emptiness made him feel uneasy. Mike signaled to have Jess and Damien follow.

Another hallway had led to another large room, one larger than the previous one. Damien looked around. No one was in there. But he could sense a presence. He closed his eyes and tried to sense with his powers. He found a shape lingering in a dark corner, one far enough away to not be seen with the light he was producing. He signaled at Mike to where it was, then stepped over to the frightened Snorunt in the corner.

Damien looked into his eyes. He saw an expression of terror in them, as if he was afraid of being rescued. Suddenly, he spoke.

"Get out… get out before he comes!"

Mike was confused. "Who?"

"Go! Get out of here! You won't stand a chance!"

Jess looked at Mike. "What's he talking about? Is there someone else here?"

Just then, a roar thundered through the cave, startling the group. Snorunt looked to his sides.

"What's going on?" Mike yelled, his words echoing through the cavern.

"H-he's here…" Snorunt stammered.

"Who?" Mike asked. Then flames burst through one of the tunnels, lighting several torches that were hung on the walls. Jess swallowed, afraid of what was to come.

"I don't think this is going to end well…"

Another loud roar echoed, and Damien instinctively brace himself for battle as a large, dark colored Charizard made its way through the tunnel. It was much larger in size than a normal Charizard, and the flame on its tail was violently blazing.

Mike panicked. "Let's just grab Snorunt and get out of here!"

Jess stopped him. "You mean we're not battling?"

"You don't understand! This is a _Dark _Charizard! Dark Pokemon are way stronger than normal Pokemon. If you try to fight it, you could be seriously hurt—if you were lucky!"

Damien heard this and started to shake. He had never seen one of these before, and he did not know what power they held. But it looked like he wouldn't let them leave without a fight...


	2. Chapter 2

Damien, Jess and Mike stared at the gigantic dragon standing before them. Snorunt was still in the corner, shaking with fear. As all this was going on, Damien was thinking about whether he should have agreed to this or not. But something told him that this was his battle too.

"Why are you all here? Why do you intrude upon my home?" Charizard bellowed.

Mike stepped up reluctantly. "All we want is the kid, so if you would just—"

Before he could finish, he was whacked in his side with Charizard's flaming tail, sending him into the far wall on the side of the cave. He fell to the ground with a sickening thud, causing Jess to run over to him.

"Mike! Are you okay?" she cried, running over to him with Damien close behind. Mike laid there, unmoving for a few moments. Then he got to his feet, his lip busted and bleeding.

"Why did you talk me into this, Jess?" he said weakly as he staggered about.

"Gee, you're welcome," Jess said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. Damien managed to look behind him, where he saw the Charizard inhale and use a Flamethrower attack.

Nobody could move as blue and green flames started spewing out of his mouth. Jess closed her eyes and prepared for it to make contact. However, Damien put his power into making a shield to protect them all. The Flamethrower reflected off the shield, keeping them safe.

"Hmm," Charizard pondered. "You seem to be the strongest, therefore I should kill you _first_!"

Damien powered down the shield and prepared a battle stance.

"You're really gonna take him on your own?" Jess asked, shocked. "Are you nuts? He'll incinerate you!"

"He wants to battle me," he replied. "I won't let you guys get hurt. Just let me battle and go. Remember to take Snorunt with you."

Jess stood where she was, frozen with fear that he would get killed. Mike called the other over and told Jess to follow him as he grabbed a low torch from the wall. As they left, Damien found himself a little less confident with no one else to help him.

"You're really going to let them leave you here?" Charizard roared. "They must not think of you too well," he looked at the scarf on Damien's neck. "And I can see why."

Damien charged up a ball of energy in his paw. The Charizard started to laugh. "It's no use. That feeble attack of yours will have no affect on me. It'll just roll of like water on a duck's feathers. Besides, what match does a useless _trained _Riolu like you have against a Dark Charizard like me?" He bent his long neck down to Damien's level. "You're nothing but a _wimp_! A spineless, worthless piece of scum!"

Damien let a growl come across his face. He pulled back the attack and used Force Palm. He threw the attack between Charizard's eyes, which threw him back into the cave wall. He lay there, unconscious, as the cave started to rumble about. Rocks fell from the ceiling as Damien started to run through the tunnel he came in from. He put up an Aura Sphere in front of his face to help him see through the pitch black darkness. He ran through each tunnel, knowing that it was only a matter of time before the Cave of Darkness collapsed on him. He ran through tunnel after tunnel after tunnel, trying to backtrack the way he came by memory. No map would help him now, for he would not have time to look at it to help him see his way through.

After a while of running, he saw a light. He knew that a light at the end of a hallway meant an exit, and he ran even faster, still holding the Aura Sphere. Suddenly, he tripped, accidentally throwing the Sphere into the ceiling. The resulting explosion ended up making the rest of the path collapse. He got up and tried to run through it, but a falling rock had caught the long scarf on his neck. He was only feet away from the exit, and he could hear Jess yelling for him. He tugged at the scarf with all of his might, but he could not get it out from under the rock.

"Hurry! It's going to collapse!" Jess yelled. But Damien was not able to retrieve his scarf from the boulder. He then decided to push the rock, trying to roll it off. After a few moments of wasted strength, he heard Mike shout.

"Jess! Get back here! It's too dangerous!"

Damien then noticed Jess trying to push the rock, her front paws struggling to get it rolled over. After a bit of effort, the rock finally moved, and Damien and Jess made their way out of the cave.

"Why did you do that?" Mike reprimanded Jess. "You could have gotten yourself killed!"

"Hey, I'm not the one whose scarf was stuck under a rock!"

"Guys, seriously? Does that even—" Damien started, but was interrupted by Mike.

"You stay out of this! Come on, you two…" Mike left with Jess and Snorunt, who was a little shaken by the whole experience. Jess looked back at Damien, who smiled and thanked her.

"You saved my life. Thanks," he said.

Jess nodded back in response and left.

Damien had made his way back to the site of the plane crash, carrying a couple of sticks and a piece of vine. He tied the sticks together to make the shape of a cross, then placed it not far from the plane. For the next hour or so, Damien sat there at the foot of the grave, remembering Dyllan for all he had done for him. Suddenly, Jess' voice made him jump.

"I thought I might find you here! We got a good reward for rescuing Snorunt. Mike sent me to bring you your share. You okay?"

Damien paused, then looked at her. He took the bag of money from her mouth and muttered thanks.

"There's something wrong with you, I just know," she started. "I guess…the grave? What's with that?"

Damien stayed silent. He was a little irritated at the moment, but he tried to bring himself to his senses. After all, she didn't _mean_ to startle him in his grief. He slowly started, "He's my…trainer. I don't think wild Pokemon take too well to that, judging by what Charizard said."

"What exactly did he say?" Jess asked.

Damien hesitated. "He called me a wimp. A spineless, worthless piece of scum. Those were his exact words."

Jess thought for a moment. "Yeah… you're right; trained Pokemon are usually seen as unwanted here. You need to be careful, because there will be a lot of Pokemon against you just for that."

"I'll keep that in mind," Damien muttered, still staring at Dyllan's grave.

"You know, my parents died in a forest fire a while back," Jess started. "It was awful. I was really little then, and Mike was a good friend of theirs. He decided to take me in and take care of me," she smiled. "He's a good godparent, but he's a little…overprotective." Damien stayed quiet as she continued on. "What's your name anyway? I never got it."

He replied, "Damien."

Jess snickered a little bit. Damien looked at her questioningly.

"Sorry," she said. "I've just never heard that name before. It's kinda funny!"

Damien sighed and looked back at the cross.

Jess stopped laughing. "Well, anyways, I've thought about asking Mike if we could form a rescue team. The way you beat Charizard back there… you would be great in one."

"What's a rescue team?" Damien inquired.

"Oh… I guess humans don't have those. It's basically a team that is paid to do missions for other Pokemon, such as escorting, fighting off enemies, and also just rescuing."

"Okay… I understand now, but why would you need to ask Mike about it?"

"I need his approval before I can. Being in a rescue team is _very_ dangerous work. Rescue teams have enemies and other rival teams to beat, and they usually battle regularly."

"I see," Damien pondered.

"I'll go ahead and ask. He's back at home waiting for me, anyways. I'll tell you what he says afterward."

She ran off as soon as she said that, leaving Damien no time to object. He tried to think of what kind of things would happen in a rescue team. Jess said they get paid for what they do, so it could get him a little extra money. Maybe he would be a little more respected if he did. He thought some more on the topic, but then pushed it aside. He was told to wait for Jess, so that's what he did.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Damien stayed behind at the crash site as Jess was heading home to ask Mike about forming a rescue team. He had been waiting almost half an hour; he figured she lived quite a ways out. He looked back over at Dyllan's grave, continuing to pay his respects to his deceased trainer.

A little further into the day, he started to sense around the surrounding area. When he started, he immediately noticed that someone's aura wasn't right. He got into fighting stance. He waited and waited, but saw no one. It took him a moment to realize that the estranged aura he sensed was not another Pokemon's, but his own. He felt a slight darkness within himself, though he wasn't sure why. Was it the insults Charizard threw at him? Or was something much worse going on?

His thoughts were interrupted by a young, scruff voice.

"Hey, you're that Riolu who rescued Snorunt earlier, aren't you?"

Damien saw a Growlithe standing in front of him. He had a worried expression on his face, which made Damien wonder.

"Uh, yeah. Do you need something?" Damien asked.

"Well… I kinda need your rescue team. My friend, Pachi, went into Boughbranch Woods to look for berries and apples and all that stuff. She's been gone for a few hours now, and I'm worried that she may have been attacked."

"Oh, wait," Damien started. "You need a _rescue team_? That wasn't my team. They just wanted to help, that's all."

"Well, it's the best thing we've got. There aren't any more rescue teams here that I know of, and no one else I know has got the guts to go in there. Please, Riolu, I need your help!"

Damien was about to say something, but stopped when Jess came to the site, looking a little disappointed. She walked past Growlithe and looked at Damien with sorry eyes. "There won't be a rescue team, Damien. Mike thinks it's too dangerous, and I think part of it is that he doesn't trust you."

"Oh, well," Growlithe frowned. "That sucks."

"It's okay, Growlithe," Damien stepped in. "I'll go and rescue her. I handled myself at the Cave of Shadows pretty well. I don't think it'll be too hard."

"Where are you going?" Jess asked.

"A place called 'Boughbranch Woods'. I'm sure Growlithe here could show me the way."

"I'll do it," Jess interrupted. "Growlithe can stay here and wait," she turned to Growlithe. "If Damien doesn't return by sundown, you can leave,"

"Sundown?" Damien stammered, looking at the position of the sun in the sky. "It's only a couple of hours away! Are you sure it won't take me longer?"

"Damien, Boughbranch Woods is _waaay_ safer than the Cave of Shadows. It's really small, too, so it could only take you a half-hour, maybe a full one at most."

"We were only in the Cave of Shadows for about fifteen minutes total," Damien reported, half-estimating.

"Whatever," she replied. "It's this way. Growlithe, remember, stay here. Okay?"

"Alright. Don't get hurt!" he called out as they made their way to the east side of the island.

Boughbranch Woods looked like any regular forest to Damien. There were large pine trees everywhere, and there were just enough to let light filter in, even at the darkest nooks and crannies. Damien didn't feel afraid at all. In fact, he was confident that he would find Pachi before sundown. This looked like a piece of cake.

"Here we are. Remember to pick up any berries you see; they could be useful later on. See ya, bro," Jess said to Damien as he stepped in. He noticed that she looked a little envious when he walked in. He thought nothing of it and moved on.

He found a few things at first; a couple of Oran Berries and a Cheri Berry. He made the scarf into a sort of makeshift carrier and continued on. It struck him a little strange that there were no enemies so far. In his few years with Dyllan, he learned that nothing is as easy as it seems. He kept his guard up, keeping a lookout and preparing for battle at every noise he heard.

He was now walking for about twenty minutes, longer than he had been in the Cave of Shadows. He used his Aura Sense, but didn't find anything but trees. There was one that was exceptionally small, and it took him a minute to realize that it was not a tree, but a Cacnea, waiting to ambush him from behind one. Damien stopped.

"I know where you are!" he shouted, putting the item-filled scarf down. "You might as well come out and face me!" he prepared for battle, opening his eyes to look at Cacnea, who hesitated a moment before finally exiting from behind the tree.

It was a very dark green color. It wasn't black, but was close to it. He had a large battle scar going across his left eye, leaving it a deep red color. He spoke in a puny, yet slightly menacing voice.

"Why are you here? What's your motive?"

"I'm looking for a Pokemon that may have gotten lost out here. I don't want any trouble."

"Well, you've got trouble!" the Cacnea threatened, then proceeded to attack. "Poison Sting!"

He spun around, launching tiny needles everywhere. Damien could feel one slice his arm and his cheek, leaving small, bleeding scratches.

"Your move," said the Cacnea. Damien started to use Quick Attack, but then Cacnea was struck in the side by a rock.

"Ow! What is this?"

Damien looked over to his side and saw Jess running towards the Cacnea, who simply swatted her out of the way. Jess got to her feet and just growled at spikes on Cacnea's arm got bigger, and he lifted it above his head. Then, Damien slammed into Cacnea at a very high speed, knocking him several feet back. He didn't get up. Damien looked at Jess.

"What are you doing? Didn't Mike say that we weren't going to form a team?"

"Well, yeah, but…but…" Jess stammered. "This seemed like such an easy mission, and I really wanted to—"

"You need to go back, so Mike won't worry about you," Damien interrupted.

"Come on! Please let me come with you! It won't take too much longer, I swear!"

"No, you don't… let me explain: If you get hurt, and he finds out you went with me, I'll be the one to take the blame! You can't come with me, Jess, and that's that."

Jess looked at him with puppy eyes, which Damien knew were for influencing others. He fought them by turning around and ignoring them. He picked up his scarf and went on his way when Jess said, "_Please! _I'll be good, and I'll be great help! Just let me come with you!"

Damien turned around. He saw her eyes filled with tears, and she looked even more pitiful than ever.

"I've been wanting to help others ever since my parents died!" she sobbed. "Do you _really _want to destroy a poor girl's dreams?!"

"Fine!" Damien finally shouted. "But you have to tell Mike where you were."

"Okay!" Jess said, her face returning to normal. "I can't believe you fell for the whole 'depressed and pitiful' act! You're so pathetic!"


	4. Chapter 4

Boughbranch Woods appeared to grow darker and more sinister as Damien and Jess went deeper into it. Damien was still using his powers to sense for enemies, and it was helping; they had fought another Cacnea and a Dustox after they finished the first battle. Now he was using it to find Pachi. He had been here for an hour. He hoped that he would find her soon, or else Growlithe would give up hope and leave the plane crash.

Damien found an apple a little farther in. He and Jess took a break to share it, still keeping watch for more Pokemon.

"How can you use your aura?" Jess asked out of the blue. "Riolu shouldn't be able to do that."

"It just came to me. I found out I could do that a couple of years back, while Dyllan was battling one of his friends. It confused scientists, and no one else was sure how I could use it. I thought it was normal until Dyllan told me otherwise," Damien rambled, taking another bite out of his half of the apple.

"Well, it's not necessarily a bad thing. You probably just have a special ability unique to you—wait, I can hear something."

When it got quiet, Damien could hear it too. Cries for help were coming far from the west, and it sounded like a female.

"I think that's our girl. Come on, Jess. We've got a mission to finish," Damien commanded, getting to his feet and running towards the direction of the cries. He ran for a minute or two with Jess following behind, though she wasn't exactly close. He made his way to where a Pachirisu was tied to a tree quite a few feet from the ground.

"Hey, are you Pachi?" Damien called up to her.

"What does it matter? I'm tied to a stupid tree!" she said, half-afraid.

"Okay! We'll get you down! Just as soon as we figure out how…" Damien said, examining the situation. She was tied almost twice as high as Damien could reach. He thought about using Aura Sphere to cut the ropes, but he didn't want her to fall and get hurt. He looked at Jess, who was possibly thinking about the same thing he was.

"Jess what kind of moves do you know?" he asked suddenly.

"Well, I know Fury Swipes, Scratch and Scary Face. I think I could claw my way up the tree and Scratch the vines off. You can catch her, if she's not too heavy."

"I heard that!" Pachi yelled, feeling a bit insulted.

"I guess it's worth a shot," Damien said, positioning himself under Pachi to where he could catch her.

Jess then proceeded to climb up to the vines that held Pachi and used Scratch. The vines snapped instantly, and Pachi fell right into Damien's arms, though he may have buckled a little bit.

"Thanks!" she said happily.

"No problem," Damien replied, putting her down. "Alright, we need to hurry; Growlithe's still waiting for you back at my place. Jess should probably take the rear to look out for enemies."

Jess nodded and started following them, making sure to pay attention to her surroundings. There weren't any enemies for the first few minutes, but as they came back to the previous battle spot, Damien noticed something different. He stopped.

"What's wrong?" Pachi asked.

"The Cacnea we battled earlier… someone must have picked it up or something…"

"Are you sure it didn't just get up and walk away?" Jess answered.

"…Maybe," Damien said. "But not without help. There's another set of footprints here," he crouched down to point them out. They left it and continued going on. Damien used his sensing powers to look out for any other unwanted bad guys. At one point, he spotted a negative presence, but it ran off before attempting to battle.

"Looks like we might get there without a problem," Jess said happily.

"Well, just because there hasn't been anyone attacking doesn't mean that there won't be any more problems," Pachi replied, a little wary. "After all, we haven't made our way through the Woods yet..."

Damien held up his paw to signal the two girls to be quiet. His sensing had picked up yet another negative aura, and this time it was hostile. He felt it lurking behind a bush nearby, planning to attack. He charged up an Aura Sphere in his paw, still keeping watch for any sign of violence. He concentrated for a moment more. Neither he nor the enemy moved a muscle, but Damien could feel its impatience rising to the point of breaking.

Then, without time for anyone to react, he threw the Sphere into the bush, where it exploded on contact. There was no movement made by anyone for a few moments. All was still until the Dark Shroomish stumbled out from the bush, a little bruised and beaten. Damien prepared himself a battle stance as Jess started growling. Pachi just backed away.

The Shroomish's impatience got the best of it as it suddenly let loose a Stun Spore attack. Damien was quick enough to dodge and get Pachi out of the way, but Jess was not so lucky. Her legs buckled, and she fell to the ground unmoving. She was now paralyzed.

"Crap!" she managed to say weakly as the Shroomish dashed after her on its stubby legs. It jumped and landed right on her back, possibly intending to break it. After the powdery attack had dissipated, Damien moved in for the defeat. He swatted the Shroomish off of Jess' back with the back of his paw. He kept attacking as it landed, kicking it in its side and letting it slam into a tree. Meanwhile, Pachi made her way over to the paralyzed Jess.

"The Cheri Berry... I saw Damien pick it up and put it in his scarf. That's the only thing that can help my paralysis!" Jess said, looking at Damien as he continued to battle the enraged Pokemon.

Pachi called over to him, "Damien, Jess needs a Cheri Berry out of your scarf!"

As soon as she said this, the Shroomish looked at the scarf slung over Damien's shoulder. It smiled and jumped at him, just barely missing when Damien managed to move to the side. It jumped again and slammed into Damien's stomach. He ended up dropping the scarf, with the contents spilling out. The enemy then ran over to the little red berry that lay on the ground. It was quick enough to pop the berry into its mouth before Damien tackled it. But it was too late—it had already swallowed the berry whole. Damien, who was rather angry about this, ended up pulling his paw back and charged energy within it. He called out, "Force Palm!"

The attack landed square in the middle of Shroomish's face, knocking it out and leaving it with a nasty bruise. Damien was left with a bit of blood on his face, but he was otherwise okay. He got off of it and wiped the blood on his paw off on the closest tree he could find. He picked up the scarf and put all of the items back into it. He then walked over to Jess, still worried about her. To his surprise, he found Pachi using a Healing Pulse to heal her. In a minute, the process ended, and Jess got up like she was never in any pain—or paralyzed, for that matter—at all.

Damien was absolutely stunned.

"She should be fine now," Pachi said nonchalantly. "She wasn't too badly hurt, and the paralysis was easy to fix."

Damien just stared at her, still not believing what he saw.

"I'll explain later," she said. "Let's just go."

"Yeah... let's just go..." Damien finished off, a little frightened by this strange new character…


	5. Chapter 5

Damien kept an eye on the sun, which appeared to be sinking faster with every passing step. He did not want to let his client down, so he had to hurry. He was still a little shocked about Pachi's Healing Pulse abilities, and he had not said a word since it happened. However, he kept watch for any sign of a threat and would alert the others about one if it came.

"You okay Damien?" Jess asked, throwing Damien off guard. He simply nodded and continued to move on. Jess turned to Pachi and they started to whisper.

"I wonder what's been going on with him. Ever since that... _incident_ a while ago, he hasn't said anything. Do you think it has something to do with me?" Pachi started.

"No, of course not!" Jess replied, trying not to be too loud to where Damien could hear. "He's just... he... I'll explain later. He's just... _angsty_, that's all."

"Angsty? You mean he's under stress? From what?"

"I said I'll explain later! Let's just get out of here before something else decides to kill us!"

Damien heard the last statement, but ignored the two as they spoke. He knew they were talking about him, but decided to focus on the mission instead. He had bigger things to worry about. Suddenly, he felt a very strong, very dark presence looming about the area. He stopped in his tracks without warning Jess or Pachi, making them screech to a halt and almost bump into each other.

Damien focused his powers into finding the source of the dark aura. It was nowhere around them, but he still felt it lurking, waiting and watching them. Then, quicker than a flash, a vine shot out from above them and grabbed Pachi by her tiny throat. Damien turned when she screamed, but he didn't see her anywhere.

"Foolish rescue team!"

A daunting voice caught everyone's attention. Damien started to growl and put his item-stuffed scarf on the ground. Jess was a little frightened.

"It was a stupid idea for you to come from the start! You rats just can't let things be, can you?" It said in a scratchy, scary voice.

Just then, another vine came and whisked Jess away, leaving no trace. Damien jumped when her shriek of terror was suddenly cut off.

"You insolent pests need to be taught a lesson! The only way I can deal with you is to kill you... _all_ of you!"

A third vine shot out, aiming this time for Damien. However, he managed to intercede it. He dodged it and then grabbed it before anything else could happen. As he had it clenched in his paw, pain raced through it, making Damien whimper slightly. In spite of the slicing sting, he gave a good, hard tug on the thorny vine and ripped it out of its source.

There was then a loud, harsh yell. Whoever was speaking, these were their vines.

"You little devil! You shouldn't have done that! You will pay dearly..."

Soon, another vine came, yet Damien grabbed it with his other paw and tore it from its socket. The voice sounded yet again, sending two vines after Damien, which he dealt with accordingly. He looked down on one and saw it was stained with blood.

_His _blood.

He looked at his paws, which were crimson from the thorns that covered the vines he had been grabbing and ripping. Pain welled up in the scars left behind from this.

"It appears that you have the greater speed between us... so I'll allow you the honor of making the first attack."

Damien watched as a Dark Cacturne descended from the trees, guided by a giant leaf. He ignored the sting from the cuts on his blood-stained paws and went into his battle stance.

The Cacturne smiled. "You've got great audacity going against me by yourself. Too bad it won't get you anywhere, Damien..."

This startled him. "How did you...?"

"I've been watching your every move ever since you entered these woods. I've listened to your conversations, watched you rescue my victim and battle my minions as you traversed on."

He was _watching _them? This whole time? What a creep, Damien thought. He shuddered a little bit.

"What's wrong, Damien? Afraid of a big, bad Darkie like me?"

Damien retained his stance, glaring at the Cacturne.

"Go ahead, Damien... make your move!"

Damien decided to not waste his strength. He had already battled twice today, and he needed to conserve it. Instead, he ran towards the Cacturne, jumping when he was a small distance away. He sent his fist directly into the enemy's stomach. However, he didn't even flinch, making Damien fall flat on his face in surprise.

"... Was I supposed to feel that? How pitiful! You have practically no fight to you at all! Your _friends_ feel stronger than you are," he said, looking up.

Damien followed suit, then gasped in horror as a droplet of blood fell onto his snout. Hanging above them, just barely alive, were Jess and Pachi hanging from their necks by the thorny vines that pierced Damien's fur and skin. Neither of them could speak, for their necks had been cut by the barbs protruding from the hellish green ropes.

Damien slowly returned his gaze upon the black menace that stood before him. "You monster! I'll kill you!"

"Do you mean that, or is it just a joke like your sorry excuse for an attack?"

Damien growled. He ran as fast as he could and sent his foot directly into the side of Cacturne's head, snapping his neck to one side. Cacturne fell over on to his right, off of the leaf that supported him. Afterwards, Damien used his Aura Sphere on him, which exploded upon impact, sending dust and leaves and other various debris about.

Once the dust cleared, Cacturne was back on his feet, this time with a negative expression on his face. "You are persistent, I'll give you that, but you're still too weak to put up a good fight!"

Damien grew angrier as the insults continued. He looked back up at his friends in their botanical nooses, fearing that they may be dying.

"I see now..." Cacturne started. "You're not from here, are you? Yes, that's it... I can tell by your scarf... the letters on it say that you were once a trained Pokemon."

Damien suddenly brought his attention back to Cacturne.

"Why are you here if you have a trainer? There has _never_ been a human in these parts… unless…"

Damien was hoping he wouldn't say what he thought he was going to say. He didn't want to deal with the emotional trauma of hearing what Cacturne had to say. But while he was distracted, Damien could try to get Jess and Pachi out of the tree.

"I see now… there was a crash on the island earlier today… that must have been your trainer. But I don't see how you survived that."

Damien started an Aura Sphere. He glared at Cacturne menacingly. Cacturne just smiled.

"Trying to attack again? I hope you're going to do some damage this time."

Damien smiled, spun as if he were going to throw a fast one, then launched it up above him, aiming for the thorn-covered vines that held his friends by their necks. As it drew closer, Cacturne gasped, Damien hoped it would hit the vines and not just kill Jess and Pachi.

It missed. Cacturne maneuvered the vines to the left of where the Aura Sphere was supposed to hit. Damien was shocked.

"Stupid Riolu. Did you think I was too slow to understand your motive? You're just as spineless as the worthless human who trained you."

That was the last straw. Damien roared and threw himself at Cacturne, who let loose a Poison Sting. It hit Damien, knocking him to the ground. He pulled himself back up, feeling a little pain from the attack. He dashed forward, using a Force Palm on the black menace. It knocked him back some, but he stood his ground. He used a basic body slam, strong enough to knock Damien back a few feet. Damien felt his health diminish, and remembered one attack that would hopefully finish Cacturne off for good. It would knock Damien out as well, but it was worth a shot.

He was going to use Final Gambit.

Damien rushed over to the item-filled scarf, ate an Oran Berry contained in it, and turned to face his opponent.

"What was that about? Afraid of your own demise?" Cacturne remarked.

Damien smiled and started running fast. He ran until he was a small distance away from Cacturne as before, but his time charged up energy over his fist.

"Final Gambit!"

Cacturne had no time to react before it landed. The resulting impact sent a shockwave several yards in all directions, which blasted Damien away.

Cacturne, his face plastered with the look of surprise, fell on to his back, groaning in pain, then finally fainted.

Damien landed several yards away from where he landed the attack. He struggled to his feet and looked up to where his friends were hanging by their throats above him. _I've got to get them down_, he thought, _or else they'll die._

He charged up an Aura Sphere in his paws. He was about to call out the move when a surge of pain shot through his body, bringing him to his knees and finally face-down on the ground.

"I'm… sorry…guys…" he said weakly as his strength left him. His vision went blurry, then black…

Then he felt nothing.


	6. Chapter 6

Damien opened his eyes as soon as he realized he was alive. He remembered being in a battle with a savage Cacturne, but that was all he could recall. He also saw images of his friends hanging above his head in thorny vines wrapped around their necks. He shot up at this thought, then felt a jolt of pain shoot through his chest, like his heart was being impaled.

"Careful, Damien! Don't be so hasty; you've just recovered from a serious injury."

He heard a familiar voice call to him from off to the side. He looked over to see Pachi heading towards him, holding an Oran Berry. She stopped at his side and eased him down on to his back.

"Pachi...? Where's Jess? Is she...?" Damien said weakly. Pachi's smiled reassured him somewhat.

"She's fine. The cuts on her neck weren't too serious, so I had them healed up in no time. She went home, saying something about a guy named Mike. She said he would kill her if he knew where she was..."

Damien laughed a little. He still regretted letting Jess manipulate him into letting her come along on the mission. Still, he was glad that she was all right. For now, at least; he was hoping she wouldn't get herself into too much trouble.

"So, what happened to me? I remember a battle, but that's about it," Damien started.

"Well," Pachi replied, "After you fainted from using Final Gambit yesterday, the vines that were holding me and Jess ended up letting us down. I managed to heal both of our injuries, then had to drag you all the way here, where Jess told me to take you. By the way, you're really heavy."

Damien barely remembered the Final Gambit, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to rely on it for all of his tough battles. He decided that after he was fully healed and able, he was going to do some tough training to level himself up more. He would have to find some sort of punching bag or dojo to make himself stronger. And he needed a place to stay while he was at it.

"Hey, Damien... do you... I don't know if I should ask this..."

Pachi was trying to get a question out of her mouth, but couldn't.

"Well, what?" Damien asked in response.

Pachi hesitated. "I...I want to join you and Jess' rescue team." She blushed, as if embarrassed by the question.

"Okay... but why? We're not even a real rescue team," Damien replied. Pachi seemed a little downhearted by this.

"Oh... well, I just thought... you guys did a good job at rescuing me, and it looks like you guys could use a medic. The entire island is full of danger. You could easily die if you weren't careful... especially with so many Darkies around."

Damien just looked at her.

"Why don't we just _start_ a rescue team?" Pachi suggested. "Everyone's been saying that the island needs one, and we would be perfect."

"What do you mean by 'perfect'?" Damien asked, a little curious.

"Well… you're really strong, and I could heal you if you were hurt. Of course, we could always recruit new members. It's not like we're the only ones willing to help others in need."

Damien thought to himself a moment. Jess mentioned the same plan when they rescued Snorunt. Apparently this wasn't an original concept. But Damien wasn't sure if he should accept. Sure, he could help those in need, but at the same time he would put too much of a risk on his own safety. He was having a conflict with himself.

"You alright? You haven't answered me in a while."

Pachi's voice snapped him out of it. "Give me some time to think on it. This whole…_experience_ has just confused me."

Pachi nodded. "Okay… what 'experience' are we talking about?"

Damien proceeded to tell her about the previous day's events, about how he was with Dyllan and crashed on the island.

"Oh… I understand. So you're not from here, are you?"

Damien shook his head. "All this has got me frustrated and confused. I just wish it had never happened…"

"…I remember what someone said to me once. They told me that all things have a purpose, and it's up to us to figure it out. If we give up trying to figure it out… we give up on a greater destiny. Just because you're in a rough patch doesn't mean you need to give up."

Damien took in the words he had heard. He's had a sense of feeling similar to having his heart ripped out ever since the previous day. Also, he's been taunted and teased about what he was, and the fact that someone was trying to help him took him by surprise.

"Listen," Pachi started. "If you want, we'll go to the Commons when you feel better. We'll shop for some supplies to start a rescue team. You'll be stuck like this for about a day, so you have time to think about whether you want to start a team or not. How's that?"

Damien looked at her. "Uh… maybe," he replied, not completely sure.

"Great!" Pachi exclaimed. "Just think on it a little. And try not to bore yourself to death— count the stars or whatever you Riolu do. I've got to go. Bye, Damien!"

She walked off, without giving him a chance to respond. He would think about it, yes, but what he's been told about himself so far was making him a little uneasy. Maybe he didn't want to do this whole "rescue team" thing after all…


	7. Chapter 7

Damien recovered in no time flat. He was up and ready by the next day, and he was in no pain whatsoever. Pachi was amazed when he said he wasn't in pain.

"Wow. You recover really quickly. I've never seen _any_ of my patients heal from something that fast."

He found the money he was paid for rescuing Snorunt and followed Pachi. On his way there, he felt a little uneasy. Was he not fully recovered like he thought? No, that wasn't pain he felt.

"Are you alright?"

Damien looked at Pachi, who was a few feet ahead of him. "Yeah… I'm fine," he replied.

"Okay…well, we're almost there."

They continued on for a few more minutes. Finally, there was a large clearing surrounded by trees before them. There were dirt paths leading to different structures, each with different Pokemon in them. Dozens of different species were gathered in different groups. None of them looked hostile, like the ones he faced in the Cave of Shadows and Boughbranch Woods.

"I've got about three thousand Poke. That bag you've got isn't a whole lot—you've got maybe around one thousand Poke. That might get us a bag, but that's about it. Lets see if we can find one at the Kecleon Shop. If not, then there might be one that someone swapped. I know this is probably a lot to understand for you, being new here and all, but you'll get it eventually. I'll look at the Shop, you look at the swap station—that's the one Croagunk owns over there," Pachi explained, looking off to the left. "Ask for a treasure bag. There's no rescue teams on this island, so there may not be a whole lot, if any."

Pachi headed over to a booth tended to by a pair of different-colored Kecleon. Damien decided to move on to the booth Pachi told him to go to. Once he got there, the Croagunk welcomed him.

"Is there anything I can swap for you? Maybe you can get something valuable for that…er, what kind of scarf is that?" he asked in a very low, slow voice.

"Actually, I'm here to see about a treasure bag. Me and someone else thought maybe we could get one that was swapped," Damien asked politely.

"Well, I do have one that was originally swapped for a Lapras Song, but the customer didn't want it. It's a good size for whatever you need it for. What do you need it for anyway?"

"You see, me and—" Damien was cut off.

"It'll set you back around five thousand Poke, but it's a good quality bag."

"Oh," Damien said, a little disappointed. "Okay. Well, thanks any—" he was interrupted again, but this time by a cry for help.

"Don't make me squash you like the Bug-type you are! I said give me all your cash!"

A large dark-gray Machoke was trying to mug a Sewaddle. He was accompanied by a dark-colored Mudkip. The Sewaddle was scared to the point of crying.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I don't have any—"

"_Sir?_ My names Bruti, and you will call me by that name _only!_"

The scene was attracting attention. Damien could hear someone whisper, "What a douche! Someone really needs to stand up to him."

In fact, someone did stand up to Bruti. A Swadloon stepped in front of the Sewaddle and defended him.

"Leave my brother alone."

"Hmm…You _really_ want to stand up to a Dark Pokemon? How cute—brave, but cute."

The Pokemon surrounding the area started whispering to each other as soon as he mentioned "Dark Pokemon". The Swadloon just looked at him. "You can eat crap for all I care; it doesn't matter if you're a Dark Pokemon. You still shouldn't be mugging little kids."

Bruti leaned down to her level. "I'll give you a chance to take that back and leave me to my business."

The Swadloon spat in his face. "Go die in a hole."

Bruti straightened right back up. "Stand back Blaze," he said to the Mudkip. "This might get messy…"

He lifted his humongous foot over the Swadloon, who motioned for her brother to run. Bruti smiled when he realized that she wasn't going to run—that would make his job harder if she did. He almost brought it down on top of her head, but Damien ran up and kicked him in the side of the face, making him fall over.

As Damien rebounded and landed, Pachi ran up to him. "What are you doing? Surely, you're not _that _well recovered!"

"Well, I couldn't just let him kill her!"

The Swadloon hurried off out of the Commons. Bruti lifted himself up. "Well…you must be really strong or something, because that actually hurt. You're still not going to get away alive!"

Damien put himself in battle stance. He yelled out to everyone, "Get out of here! I don't want any of you hurt!"

The surrounding population listened and scattered every which way. Even the Mudkip tried to run, but with a glare from Bruti he stayed where he was.

"You know what, Blaze? You've been lazy all day. Why don't you battle for once?"

The Mudkip sighed. "Might as well. Sorry, kid, but I kinda don't have a choice," he warned Damien, who was ready to block any water attack that was at his disposal. What Blaze did next left Damien frightened.

Fire spewed out of Blaze's mouth. Damien tried to jump back, but it was a direct hit. Damien became engulfed in flames, making him scream in pain. He fell to his knees, the attack continuing to burn his life away.

"Too hot for you? Blaze's fire is hotter than most Fire-type attacks! You don't stand a chance!"

Damien struggled back to his feet and tried to put a shield of aura around him. He was knocked back by a sudden wave of heat. Blaze kept breathing fire on him. Pachi backed up as far away as she could, the fire singing her fur a little bit. She saw Damien try to get back up, but fall right back down. She looked on as tears formed in her eyes. She feared the worst.

"Alright Blaze, keep it going! He's not got much longer!"

Suddenly, a cold, white ball of ice hit Blaze in the side, exploding on impact. The attack stopped, and the fire that had swallowed Damien was gone, leaving his fur charred black and his body burned from head to toe. He was on the ground, panting heavily from the heat. Pachi hurried over to him.

"Damien! Oh my god, are you okay?"

Damien pushed himself to his knees, which burned like a fiery inferno.

"I'll try my best to get you—" Pachi was interrupted when when Damien painfully stood on his feet and charged up an Aura Sphere.

"Pachi, go. This battle's not over yet. I can handle myself. I'll come to you later for help, but I can still fight. I'll beat these guys or die trying," Damien told her, refusing her help. He shot it at Blaze as Bruti looked on, frowning.

"Hmph. This kid's stronger than I thought." he watched Damien intently as he dodged an Ember attack and winced when his feet touched the ground. "But of course, he isn't a Dark Pokemon. I guess Shade won't have anything to worry about, unless something bad happens."

Suddenly, a familiar Pikachu and Zorua came from the bushes.

"Damien! We're here to help!" Jess shouted as Mike fired off another two Ice Balls at Blaze.

Bruti growled. "Now I've got to deal with these two? Meh… they're so puny I could _flick_ them into non-existence. I guess this won't be too hard!"

Damien looked at Mike and Jess. "You two take care of the big one. I've got the freak under control!"

"Freak?!" Blaze said, a little annoyed. "You're one to say something like that; Riolu shouldn't be able to use Aura Sphere!"

"You think I don't know that?" Damien spat back, throwing a couple of punches.

Meanwhile, Jess and Mike were attacking Bruti. Jess repeatedly used Scratch at Bruti's legs, and every time he felt a scratch, he would kick, but miss. Mike finished off his last two Ice Balls while Bruti was distracted, then fired off an Aurora Beam that knocked him down. At this point, he was fed up with everything and decided to give up.

"Blaze! We're done! Let's get back to Shade. The Riolu's so badly burned, he probably won't last a day anyways."

Bruti got to his feet and ran off, while a beaten Blaze followed him. He turned to the rest of them. "Don't think he's just going to let this slide! Now you've made him upset!"

Damien replied, "Tell Bruti I'll be ready next time we meet!"

Blaze looked at him. "I wasn't talking about Bruti… you'll all face Shade's wrath eventually… and I'll be there to see it, unfortunately." He looked a little discouraged as he said that last part. He turned and followed Bruti until the rest of them couldn't see them anymore.

Damien looked confused. "Shade? Who's Shade?"

Pachi ran up to him and started to heal him with her Heal Pulse. "I don't know… but I don't like the sound of it."

Mike looked at Jess. "I _told_ you we shouldn't have gotten involved!"

Jess looked at him angrily. "You were the one who fired off that first Ice Ball! At least we got rid of them…"

"Not for long," Damien said, Pachi still putting healing energy into him. "I have a feeling that they won't forget this. I'm sure they'll come back."

"If they do, we'll just have to fight them off again," Pachi said.

"Well, if they come back, we _will_ just fight them off again. No big deal; the Machoke was weak anyways." Mike paused for a moment. "I hate Dark Pokemon… absolutely _hate_ them."

Damien felt his pain go away as Pachi healed him. Then, for some strange reason, the Croagunk that owned the Swap Store came up to him, holding the bag that Damien was looking at.

"I watched the whole thing," he said. "I was astonished. No one could be that strong. You know what, you can have the bag. It's yours."

"Thanks…?" Damien said, a little puzzled by this.

Mike looked at the bag, then at Damien. "So Jess wasn't joking about the rescue team?"

Pachi smiled at him. "It was _my_ idea. He did so well at rescuing me that I wanted to start a team with him."

Mike shrugged. "I guess I'll join, if Jess doesn't mind me keeping an eye on her."

Jess looked ecstatic. "Of course I don't! Finally, a rescue team! But… I have one question…"

"What?" Damien replied, a little wary.

"…What'll be our team name?"


	8. Chapter 8

Damien's hours of toil were finally over. The parts of the wrecked plane were now set up into an improvised team base for his new rescue team—Team Renegade. The wings were made into walls and the cockpit was hollowed out and put in the center. The mirror was salvaged, though it had a scratch on it. That was placed in the back. The whole thing was covered in tarp to keep rain from entering through the cracks. One of the good things about Dyllan was that he always prepared for whatever life threw at him.

Pachi, Mike and Jess helped him while he did it. They set up some sandbags that were in the plane as punching bags so Damien could train in his free time. It took all three of them to lift one up. One of them was so big and heavy that all of them combined couldn't pick it up. However, Damien had no trouble at all, for he picked it up with one paw.

"I don't understand how you're so strong," Jess told him. "You beat three Dark Pokemon with almost no trouble at all. You must eat a lot of Rare Candy or something."

"What's a Rare Candy?" Damien asked in response.

After all was said and done, Damien was ready to put the rest of the team on standby, until…

"Hey! Aren't you that rescue team? The one who beat those bad guys yesterday?"

A Plusle approached them, looking upset.

"What's up? Do you need our help?" Mike asked her.

"Actually, my best friend got lost around Riverbent Forest. I can't find her anywhere. I promise to give you a decent reward if you find her, just so long as I go with you guys."

"Like what _kind_ of reward?" Mike asked.

"Thirty thousand Poke."

Everyone but Damien was startled by this.

"Thirty _thousand _Poke?" Pachi said, extremely surprised.

"Seriously? This is too easy for thirty thousand! It's just a basic rescue mission," Jess said, also bewildered.

"Is that a lot?" Damien asked them, completely unaware of the extremity of the amount.

"You're lying, aren't you?" Mike said unbelievingly.

"No! I mean, she really _is_ in danger! You've got to help her!" the Plusle replied defensively.

Damien told his team, "Well, if this is for real, then we'd better get going."

"You sure?" Jess responded. "This seems too good to be true. I mean, thirty thousand Poke is just too much money for something like this."

"Then we should be prepared for anything that might happen," Damien assured her. He couldn't help but notice the Plusle looking a little nervous.

"Lead the way," Mike told her.

"Oh… okay…" she replied with a little quiver in her voice.

They trailed on to a clearing that led to the entrance to Riverbent Forest. Damien noticed that the Plusle was looking frightened, as if there was something to hide. He asked if she was okay, and she denied any trouble. Still, Damien was suspicious. The extremely high reward for the mission and the way the Plusle was acting made him think that there was more to this mission than she had presented. Even her aura wasn't normal. It was like she had been lying to them all along. But he continued on, warily curious to what she was hiding.

They were led to a small field, surrounded by trees and cut through by a medium size river. It was deep enough for a small Pokemon to drown in, but clear enough to see the bottom. Once they made their way to the middle of it, Damien started to ask the Plusle a question.

"Hey, Plusle? Do you know where…"

His voice trailed off to find that she was nowhere to be found. The rest of the team noticed this as well.

"Where'd she go?" Jess asked Pachi.

"I don't know. She told us to go this way… didn't she? Maybe we went the wrong direction?"

"Nope," a familiar voice called from the shadows. "You're in the right place, alright. Right where we want you."

Damien turned his head to see Bruti step out from under the trees. Startled, he checked the area for others using his aura sight. He saw his team try to run as he saw another threat approaching.

"We've been tricked!" Mike shouted. "We need to get out of here!"

"Wait! Guys! Stop!" Damien commanded, just as a wall of fire came up and enclosed the clearing, leaving a gap where the river cut through. Mike cursed as Blaze popped out of the flames, leaving Bruti on the other side to catch them if they tried to run.

"The whole area is surrounded by flames. There's no way out. That means that this battle's going to be to the death, and no one's going to escape," Bruti said, smiling.

Damien tried to think of a plan as the team all stood to the back of each other. Pachi was scared stiff. Jess was growling at Bruti. Mike was itching to battle.

"What's your plan, Damien? You're the leader of this team, so what do we do?" Jess whispered.

"Don't worry, I'm thinking!" Damien assured her.

"They're not making any moves, Blaze. Guess we're up first!" Bruti said, stepping up to fight.

"What are we doing? You're not going to let us die, are you?" Mike whispered, a little irritated.

"Just let me think!" Damien spat back.

"Thinking isn't going to help us. We need a plan _now!_"

"Here I come!" Bruti said as he started running up to them. "DynamicPunch!"

Damien knew DynamicPunch all too well. The bone-shattering fist being driven into the opponent's body caused instant confusion. He once endured the attack in battle, and he didn't want to experience it again. He saw Blaze start charging towards the team, his body catching fire in a Flame Charge attack. He looked over at Bruti, then at Blaze again.

He knew what to do.

Right before Bruti drove his fist into Pachi's skull, Damien called everyone to scatter and pulled her out of the way. Bruti missed Pachi entirely, and he was on a collision course with Blaze.

"Crap! Blaze, stop! We're gonna—" Bruti only managed these words before their attacks met. Bruti's DynamicPunch flung Blaze several feet into the air, and Blaze's Flame Charge burned Bruti's fist. When Blaze hit the ground, he managed to get up. However, he teetered and tottered in every which way imaginable.

Team Renegade was scattered across the clearing. Damien turned to Mike.

"There! That was my plan! Happy now?" he spat. "Now, you and Jess take on Bruti, just like yesterday. Let Jess distract him and land as many blows as you can while he isn't looking!" he made sure Bruti wasn't listening. Instead, Bruti was tending to his burned hand. He looked at Pachi. "Do you know any attacks?"

Pachi thought for a moment. "Just a couple: Swift and Electro Ball. Do you need them?"

"I just need you to help Mike and Jess as reinforcements, in case my idea doesn't work. I'll get Blaze. He's confused now, so he shouldn't be too much trouble."

Pachi nodded, telling herself to be brave. "Good luck, Damien."

"Thanks," he said, heading over to where Blaze was. When he got there, Blaze was stumbling around. When he looked at Damien, he had to squint.

"Uh… okay… I'm seeing four of you now… I just hope I hit…"

He fired off the Flamethrower attack, but missed Damien. The kick from the attack made him fall back a little. He teetered sideways until he lost his balance and fell into the water. Damien waited for him to come back up.

But he didn't.

Damien was a little frightened now. The enemy was sure to drown, but Damien didn't play dirty. If he fought, it was a fair fight. He couldn't let Blaze die, even though he was the enemy. He just wasn't that kind of Pokemon.

He looked over to where his teammates were fighting off Bruti. Jess and Mike were successful at keeping him busy. Damien then looked back into the water. He knew what he had to do.

When he was close enough, he held his breath and dived into the river. He closed his eyes when he penetrated the clear water and opened them back up when he knew he was all the way under. He looked around and found Blaze floating motionlessly near the riverbed. He kicked his feet to maneuver himself over to his position. He grabbed him, not realizing how heavy he was. When he tried to swim back up, Blaze's limp body held him down. He tried to swim as hard as he could, but to no avail. He was pulled back down.

He was running out of air fast. He looked and found that his feet were on the riverbed. He thought he could possibly jump off of it hard enough to propel himself back up to the surface. He decided to try it. He gripped Blaze's body and made sure that his feet were planted firmly in the wet sand beneath him. Then he crouched down and gave a hard push.

It worked. He shot right back up to where he could grab the ledge, and he pulled Blaze onto land, where he started to cough up water and open his eyes. Damien pulled himself back onto land as well, but never expected Bruti to make his way up to him.

"Well, well, well. Aiding the enemy, huh? You must not know a lot about a thing called _loyalty._"

Damien looked up at him. He had Jess, Mike and Pachi by their necks, coiled tight in his arm. The plan must have had a gap in it, he thought. But he was new to being a rescue team leader. He didn't realize that his first battle was going to be like this, either. Bruti grabbed him by the scarf around his neck and pulled him off the ground.

"It's over, kid. Your team's done. Get ready to die!"

Damien kicked him in the chest, but it barely affected the giant Dark Machoke, who looked down to where Blaze was.

"Hey, Blaze, why don't you incinerate the Riolu for me. Then we'll cremate his friends one by one."

Blaze got to his feet, looked at Damien, then looked at Bruti. Damien knew that Blaze wasn't going to hold back. He didn't in the last battle, and he wouldn't now. Blaze looked back at Damien, then backed up a few feet.

"This is it. This rescue team failed their mission! And it will be the last time they do it, too!" Bruti was awfully happy with himself.

Blaze called out, "Flame Charge!"

Bruti was caught off guard. "Flame Charge? What, do you think he's a piñata or something?"

But as it turned out, Blaze wasn't aiming for Damien. He started running and jumped, plowing the move right into Bruti's stomach, making him let go of Team Renegade and fall to the ground and cough up blood.

Mike, Jess, Pachi, and Damien were okay. Mike looked at Bruti. His cheeks started to light up and spark. "Freeze Bolt!"

A huge white lightning strike suddenly descended from the sky and hit Bruti, freezing him as he screamed. Now he was just laying there, frozen in a large block of ice.

Damien padded over to him and grimaced at the expression of pain and shock on his face.

"Alright, you freak Mudkip! You're next!"

Damien heard Mike threaten Blaze. Blaze backed up and tried to tell him not to.

"Wait! Let's not be hasty now; I just saved all of your lives! Surely you won't freeze me for that!"

Mike's cheeks started to spark again, but Damien stopped him from using his attack.

"Mike! No! If anything, we can try to get some information out of him now that he isn't trying to kill us."

Blaze and Mike both looked at him, Mike a little more disappointed than Blaze.

"What kind of information?" Blaze asked.

"We want to know more about who you two work for," Damien told him.

"Y-You mean…Shade? No, I'm sorry, I can't tell you anything about him! He'll kill all of us if he found out that I told you!"

Damien stared at him.

"Seriously! He'll probably be pissed just because I mentioned him!"

Damien thought for a moment. There apparently was a larger enemy than what they've been facing thus far. Blaze said that there would be a deadly consequence for any information leaked.

"Okay. I'll accept that. But don't think we won't try to figure it out ourselves. Also, I have another question. Did you two use that poor girl to lead us here?"

"Actually, that was more _his_ doing. I have nothing against you guys. I was just forced into this because I'm a Dark Pokemon."

"Alright. I expect we'll see you guys again?"

"Probably. I'll try to go easy on you. I would be more worried about Bruti, though. He's not going to hold back. Now, you guys need to get out of here. I'll tell him I was still confused and missed, but that I also managed to scare you off."

"So you're just going to make me look like a total chicken?" Mike started to spark again.

"It's better than telling him that I meant to knock him out. Now, you guys need to go. I have to thaw him, and I don't really want him to hurt you guys."


	9. Chapter 9

Damien tired himself out from using his punching bags to train. He flopped himself down on his small grass bed and almost fell asleep. If there was a mission today, he'd have to skip it. He trained viciously, almost bursting one of the sandbags open with his attacks. He was hot, tired, and unwilling to move at the moment.

"Hey, Damien?"

Pachi's voice made him get up. He saw a piece of paper in her paw. "What's that?"

"I came here to talk to you about it. It's a notice. A criminal broke out of prison and they're telling everyone to be careful." She handed him the notice.

"Citizens Beware! Escaped convict!

Abigail the Riolu has escaped from prison. Officials are doing all they can to apprehend this murderous criminal. If spotted, do not approach and alert the proper authorities immediately.

10,000 Poke reward for information leading to arrest."

"Murderous? Wow," Damien said, halfway conscious. "Oh, well. Hopefully they'll catch her." He laid back down on his bed.

"I'm worried about this, though… I mean, I'm afraid you might get confused for her and end up arrested," Pachi said somberly.

"Not if I stay here I won't," Damien said dryly, just wanting to be asleep for a while. "Besides, she can't look _just_ like me. There's got to be some subtle differences, like eye color or something." He dozed off after that comment.

"You're just going to sleep during this?" Pachi said angrily, hitting him on his forehead.

"Hey! Stop! I've been training all day. I need rest," Damien said indignantly.

"You can rest later. We need to find this Abigail girl and get her turned in."

"You know what? I'll go warn Mike and Jess about it. Will that make you happy?" Damien asserted crankily.

"Maybe, if you didn't yell at me."

"Okay," he said, rubbing his eyes. "You wanna go with me?"

"Sure. I'll go with you. You might get injured, after all."

He picked himself up off the bed and grabbed his new treasure bag—the one the Croagunk gave him for fighting off Blaze and Bruti a couple of days ago. Pachi followed him out of the entrance and they headed out to find Jess and Mike.

They were going through a very heavily forested area. The trees were at least a hundred, if not a hundred and fifty feet tall. Damien felt a strange presence lurking about. Thinking he had heard a noise in the bushes behind him, Damien stopped in his tracks.

"What's wrong, Da—"

Before Pachi could finish, Damien had shushed her. He listened intently, put down the bag, then closed his eyes. He started to use his aura-sensing abilities. He came across a figure hiding in the bushes, who was ready to attack. The figure appeared to coil itself up, as if it were preparing to jump out and attack. Damien turned to face the Pokemon just as an Emolga leapt out, holding a small dagger and preparing to slash at Damien.

He quickly side-stepped to avoid the attack. The Emolga landed in the grass. Damien charged up an Aura Sphere, but it was cut off when the Emolga attacked again, this time clipping Damien's ear a little. The pain made Damien whimper, but he pulled it together and managed to block the Emolga by catching its head when it threw itself at him once more. Once he caught its head, he launched it backwards into a nearby tree. He finished his Aura Sphere and threw it. But the Emolga also charged up an Electro Ball and launched it. They came into contact and exploded, leaving a big cloud of smoke. Damien stared at it a moment, then he became startled when the Pokemon jumped at him and pinned him to a tree.

Damien took a hit to the back of his head, leaving him stunned. The Emolga took the knife and held it to his throat.

"Say goodbye, you worthless piece of criminal slime!"

Pachi could barely see through the smoke, but when it cleared enough to see Damien in serious trouble, Pachi was horrified.

"Let him go!"

The Emolga's expression faded into confusion. He looked at Damien's eyes. Then he slowly lowered the dagger and backed away from Damien, who brought himself back to reality.

"Look," the Emolga backed away further. "It was a misunderstanding. I just thought you were a criminal…"

"A criminal?" Damien asked, his head still hurting.

"Y-yeah…"

"It's exactly what I was worried about, Damien!" Pachi said sternly. "You almost got killed."

"Like I said, it was a misunderstanding. I never meant to hurt anyone," The Emolga said, sheathing his knife. "My name's Bolt, by the way."

Pachi crossed her stubby paws as best as she could. "'Misunderstanding' wasn't going to work if you really _did_ kill him," she muttered to herself.

"Who are you guys?"

"I'm Damien, and my friend here is Pachi. We were on our way to see some friends of ours, to warn them about Abigail," Damien revealed.

"Really? I'm trying to catch her. I'm a bounty hunter, you see, and I was interested in the reward."

"Well," Damien said. "We're not trying to _kill _her, but we're interested too."

"Okay then, how about this: we work together and split the reward."

Damien thought about this. "Don't you want the full ten thousand?"

Bolt shrugged. "A little bit's better than none."

"Well, sure. We need all the help we can get. You alright with it, Pachi?"

Pachi was still crossed. "Maybe, but he should probably learn some self-control."

Damien had found Mike and Jess' home. It wasn't much; it was just a burrow in the bottom of a tree, offset by a bush on either side.

"Mike? Are you home?"

For a brief moment, there was nothing. Then a sleepy, rustled Mike poked his head out, flinching a little at the bright sunlight. "Ugh… what? I was sleeping!"

"Where's Jess?" Pachi asked.

"Out getting some berries. Why? Also, who's that?" Mike glared at Bolt.

"We're going to go after a criminal. We were going to grab you guys to help." Damien handed the poster to Mike.

"Sure, me maybe, but Jess can't go. Too dangerous."

Damien was wondering why he let her even join the team if something like this was "too dangerous". "Well, then she can stay home. We've got plenty of team members—and a non-member—so we should be able to get the criminal fairly easily."

"It all depends on the severity of the crime. This one's a murderer, so she's most likely a good fighter. I'll go ahead with you, but we'd better have a plan this time."


	10. Chapter 10

Damien tried to think of something for the team to do if they encountered Abigail. From previous experience, he had learned not to just go in and battle. He needed a strategy. If Abigail was a murderer, then she might have some sort of weapon on her, like Bolt's knife or something similar. She would easily be able to take them out without trying with a weapon in hand. But on the other hand, if she was simply strong enough to kill with her attacks, then outnumbering her could work. She couldn't be invincible, Damien thought.

All of a sudden, Damien heard a low growling sound, which surprised him a little.

"What was that?"

Pachi and the others stopped. "What was what?"

"That… growling sound," Damien almost panicked. It took him a moment to realize that it was his stomach growling, and not a sneak attack.

"I take it you're hungry, Damien?" Mike remarked.

"Heh… yeah, sorry."

Bolt stepped in. "I'm a bit famished too. Why don't we split and look for some food?"

"That isn't a bad idea—but, what if one of us finds the criminal?" Damien wondered.

"Just signal with one of your Aura Sphere thingies. I'm sure we'll see it."

"Oh. Okay…" Damien didn't feel too smart right now. First, he had no strategy for defeating Abigail in battle. He would need one in order to not get himself killed. And second, he hadn't though about using signals when the team is separated. He felt like he was being a bit of a hindrance to his team.

"We'll meet back here when we get something, if none of us see a signal. Be careful, Damien." Pachi said.

"I will, don't worry." Damien went off his own way. He searched the ground and the trees to find some berries or apples. Soon enough, he found a big apple on the ground. He put it in the bag, and before he could set off again, he saw an apple roll out of a nearby bush.

The apple looked delicious. The crimson color on it was perfectly solid, and no bruises were apparent. Still, he was suspicious. He waited a moment for some Pokemon to come out and retrieve the apple, in case someone had just dropped it. But no one arrived. He also considered the option that it could be a trap, set up by the authorities. He inhaled deeply, closed his eyes and started to sense the area around him. He found nothing around him, but he did notice someone in the trees above him.

A Riolu. A female one, to be exact.

Damien opened his eyes and shrugged, pretending to have not seen her. He walked towards the apple at a normal pace, waiting for her to jump from the tree. Once he got closer to the apple, he stopped to look around, making himself open for ambush. But, to his surprise, no one attacked him. He picked up the apple, and started to sense the area again, this time focusing on the tree above him.

The Riolu had disappeared.

Damien looked up to make sure what he had sensed was accurate. No one was in the tree, though. Maybe she wasn't the criminal? Maybe she just wanted to help him? Damien took another look around. He bit into the apple and walked on, still looking for food.

After another mile or so, he decided it was time to turn back. He had found a few apples, enough to satisfy the rest of the group, so he didn't need to keep searching. He started to turn around, but then he heard a noise. Someone was in the area. He used his aura to search around him, and found the same Riolu from before in a clearing. She appeared to be eating something.

Damien took a detour to see what she was doing, in case there actually was reason to not trust her. He peeked at her and cringed. She was the criminal, all right. She was spotted with blood and had cuffs and chains on her wrists, which appeared to have been cut somehow. Damien checked the direction of the wind. He was downwind, so he could quite possibly create a signal without her noticing, just so long as he was quiet about it. But, then again, what if she did notice? What if she heard the signal and ran off? He would have to keep her where she was somehow.

He took his chances. He backed up a little bit, so that he wouldn't be seen or, hopefully, heard. He charged up his Aura Sphere, and prepared to launch it straight up. He almost had it ready, but then he was hit by a rock. It sent him falling to the ground. He stopped face down in the dirt, and looked up to see who did that. Standing there was the criminal Abigail, smiling triumphantly as she made her way towards him.

"Nice try, kid, but you need to be quicker than that."

Damien made it to his feet. "I wasn't attacking you, you know."

"Trust me," Abigail's smile grew, "I knew. You were going to signal your friends to try to catch me, weren't you? Do you think I'm stupid or something?"

Damien got into fighting stance.

"Really? You wanna fight, huh? Oh well, I'm game!" Abigail copied Damien's stance.

"I really don't want to fight you by myself, Abigail!"

"You know my name?" Abigail's smile faded a little. "Geez, I only escaped yesterday! They make those wanted posters _really_ fast these days! Whatever. I know your name too… Damien!"

"You were watching me, weren't you?"

"Of course. I knew you came to this island, so I wanted to meet you personally. Of course, I couldn't just go out into the open after you found out I was wanted for murder. So I trailed your sorry excuse for a rescue team. When they split, I followed you. That apple was good, wasn't it?"

Damien glared at her.

"Don't worry, it wasn't poisoned or nothin'. I just wanted to see what you'd do." She frowned a little. "You attacking or what? My legs are getting tired of this!"

Damien thought out his plan carefully. A wrong move could be bad here, he thought. He charged up energy in his paw.

"Pulling the old Force Palm on me, eh? Stupid."

Damien paused for a moment, the energy still building up in his palm. He dashed off to the right and took off running. He could hear Abigail behind him. "Where ya going?"

Damien ran for a moment, sensing with his aura as he did so. He constantly checked his surroundings for just the right moment. Then, Abigail jumped out in front of him.

"Too slo—"

Damien sent the Force Palm into her stomach, making her fall onto her hindquarters. Damien quickly charged up his Aura Sphere and launched it into the sky, hoping the rest of his team would see it…

Mike was going about his own business, trying to find food for Damien's team. He thought to himself, why did I join in the first place? Of course, this wasn't the first time he had reconsidered joining Team Renegade. The whole purpose of being Jess' godfather was to protect her and take care of her. It was hard to do that when he went on potentially life-threatening missions. After a while, he heard a noise. He looked around, hoping he didn't meet Abigail. His cheeks started to spark, cold as ice. He prepared himself for battle.

He heard the bushes behind him rustle. He turned to see Blaze—the fire-breathing Mudkip from Team Renegade's previous battle—sneaking around him.

"You again?"

Blaze jumped when he heard Mike's snarling voice. He looked at him and backed away slowly.

"Why don't you two just leave us alone?! Do I have to teach you a lesson, freak?"

"Don't call me a freak!" Blaze shot back. "And besides, I'm not with Bruti anymore. Please don't hurt me…"

Mike was puzzled. "What? You mean, you don't work with him anymore?"

"No. I don't work with Bruti anymore. I don't even work for _Shade_ anymore!"

Mike's animosity turned to confusion. "Are you… still a bad guy?"

"I never wanted to be a bad guy. I was just pulled into the job because I had no choice! I'm running from them now."

Mike was trying to comprehend this. All of his life, he believed Dark Pokemon were naturally vicious killers. He didn't believe this for a second, but he couldn't help feeling sorry for the poor Mudkip.

"Hey, do you… do you think the Riolu will let me join his team?"

"Whoa, say what? You're a Darkie! You seriously think we're—" Mike stopped himself. Damien never said that Dark Pokemon were allowed to join the team, but he never said that they weren't, either. "I'll ask him. He's pretty…_open-minded _about that kind of stuff."

"Thanks. I just hope Shade's not going to kill me for breaking away from the army."

"Army?"

"I suppose I might as well talk. Shade's planning an army of Dark Pokemon to take control of the forest. To do that, he has to make Pokemon sad by killing loved ones and destroying homes. He recently shot down a plane, hoping he could get some Darkies for it."

"Wait, he shot down a _plane?_" Mike was concerned now.

"Yeah… I think there may have been a human in it, but they're probably long dead."

"I have to tell him!" Mike interjected.

"Who?"

"Damien! His trainer died in that plane crash!"

Just then, they both heard a noise. Mike looked to the sky and saw an Aura Sphere.

"…Dammit, Damien!"

He ran off. Blaze looked around, making sure no one was following him, then took off after Mike. "Wait up!"


End file.
